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The Feast at Solhaug : Henrik Ibsen's play Gildet paa Solhaug (1856) inspired Wilhelm Stenhammer's opera Gillet på Solhaug. The world premiere recording is now available via Sterling CD, in a 3 disc set which includes full libretto and background history.

‘Can great music be inspired by the throw of the dice?’ asks Peter Phillips, director of The Tallis Scholars, in his liner notes to the ensemble’s new recording of Josquin’s Missa Di dadi (The Dice Mass). The fifteenth-century artist certainly had an abundant supply of devotional imagery. As one scholar has put it, during this age there was neither ‘an object nor an action, however trivial, that [was] not constantly correlated with Christ or salvation’.

Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto was the composer’s ﬁfteenth opera, and the ninth to a libretto by Giovanni Faustini (1615-1651). First performed at the Teatro Sant’Apollinaire in Venice on 28th November 1651, the opera by might have been sub-titled ‘Gods Behaving Badly’, so debauched are the deities’ dalliances and deviations, so egotistical their deceptions.

Edouard Lalo (1823-92) is best known today for his instrumental works: the
Symphonie espagnole (which is, despite the title, a five-movement
violin concerto), the Symphony in G Minor, and perhaps some movements from his
ballet Namouna, a scintillating work that the young Debussy adored.

It is not often that a major work by a forgotten composer gets rediscovered
and makes an enormously favorable impression on today’s listeners. That has
happened, unexpectedly, with Herculanum, a four-act grand opera by
Félicien David, which in 2014 was recorded for the first time.

This recording, made in the Adrian Boult Hall at the Birmingham Conservatoire of Music in June 2014, is the fourth disc in SOMM’s series of recordings with Paul Spicer and the Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir.

This well-packed disc is a delight and a revelation. Until now, even the
most assiduous record collector had access to only a few of the nearly 100
songs published by Félicien David (1810-76), in recordings by such notable
artists as Huguette Tourangeau, Ursula Mayer-Reinach, Udo Reinemann, and Joan
Sutherland (the last-mentioned singing the duet “Les Hirondelles”
with herself!).

This new release of John Taverner’s virtuosic and florid Missa
Corona spinea (produced by Gimell Records) comes two years after The
Tallis Scholars’ critically esteemed recording of the composer’s
Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas, which topped the UK Specialist Classical
Album Chart for 6 weeks, and with which the ensemble celebrated their
40th anniversary. The recording also includes Taverner’s two
settings of Dum transisset Sabbatum.

Sounds swirl with an urgent emotionality and meandering virtuosity on Jonas Kaufmann’s new Puccini album—the “real one”, according
to Kaufmann, whose works were also released earlier this year on Decca records, allegedly without his approval.

As the editor of Opera magazine, John Allison, notes in his editorial in the June issue, Donizetti fans are currently spoilt for choice, enjoying a ‘Donizetti revival’ with productions of several of the composer’s lesser known works cropping up in houses around the world.

This Winterreise is the final instalment of Matthias Goerne’s series of Schubert lieder for Harmonia Mundi and it brings the Matthias Goerne Schubert Edition, begun in 2008, to a dark, harrowing close.

The former have no real value, other than to provide a cult vehicle for sycophants, the latter contribute greatly to the lasting importance of their artistry, and their art. Edita Gruberová belongs to the latter group of artists, and the public is fortunate she has been active at a time when it has been possible to leave volumes of commercially recorded CDs, DVDs, radio and television broadcasts, and the ever important “pirate” recordings.

Born on December 23, 1946, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Gruberová studied with Mária Medvecká at the Bratislava Conservatory, and later at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. After singing with the Lúnica Folk Ensemble and participating in several Slovak National Theatre productions, Gruberová made her operatic debut in 1968, in her home town, as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Three years later she defected to the west when was engaged by the Vienna State Opera. The rest, as the phrase goes, is history. Gruberová’s international career was assured following her debut performance in Vienna as Mozart’s Queen of the Night.

The operas highlighted in this CD are well known and, therefore, it is easy to think of other singers interpreting these roles. However, be they one’s least or most favorite diva, the thought never becomes anything more than that. Gruberová makes each role her own, be it through her stratospheric singing, seemingly endless pianissimi, or impressive messa di voce and forte which seem to come out of nowhere. One thing is clear, Gruberovabá’s timbre is perfectly suited to interpret these bel canto “mad” characters; her technique, musical instinct, and her choice of perfectly placed embellishments have earned her the love and respect of fans and colleagues alike. Other than through her recordings, Gruberová is virtually little known in the U.S.A., but in Europe she has a legendary goddess stature, a true Diva, and her performances are always sold out. She is well deserving of the title “Queen of Belcanto.”

Typical of Gruberová’s style, the take of each track in this CD is slower than most other interpreters’ renditions of the same arias. Gruberová’s interpretations, tinged with the appropriate emotions, provide a different aspect of madness: these are not mature, tortured women gone over the edge; these are pouting, deceived, melancholy teenagers hurt and brokenhearted for the first time in their lives. To them there is no hope, no bright future, no possible explanation for their loss, and no redemption–not even the thought of vengeance to appease them. At a time when women were considered “property” and had nothing but their word and their chastity, madness and death are their only escape. Gruberová plays well on this psychological and historical aspect of the characters: Lucia is introspective with sporadic bursts of anger, and in spite of a sharp note at the end, Gruberová’s “duet” with the flute is one of the most effective on record. In Anna Bolena, as the impetuous young queen falsely accused, the singer is child-like in recalling her first love; in the subsequent cavattina, she is regal, realizing the madness of her immature ambition to be queen. Amina in Sonnambula is pure innocence misunderstood. Gruberová is superb in expressing the character’s sadness and grief: one can feel the tears in her voice in “Il pianto mio recarti...” leading to “Non credea mirarti” where she ironically compares the wilted flowers to Elvino’s love. This sad moment quickly turns to joy in “Ah! non giunge uman pensiero.” As Elvira, in Puritani, Gruberová vocal technique is put to the test with the character’s vacillation between madness and temporary sanity. The singer’s use of portamento is exquisite to indicate Elvira’s betrayal, despair, and mental state. Later, the pathos turns to temporary joy in “Vien, diletto, è in ciel la luna...”

This recording is coloratura at its best.

There is only one criticism of this disk: four mad scenes do not represent the wide scope of Bel Canto. Nightingale Classics, Gruberová’s recording company, has chosen to follow EMI’s lead in rehashing its one star’s recorded legacy as though it were a newly discovered masterpiece–all the tracks in this CD are taken from previously, or recently released complete opera recordings. Gruberova who, through deliberate and intelligent choices, has sung mostly Mozart, Donizetti, Bellini and Verdi, has recorded other CDs (“Donizetti Portraits,” and “Belcanto Duets”) more appropriate of the moniker given the present recording. There is another CD in the singer’s discography, titled “Mad Scenes,” which the present recording would have served well as a deserving follow up, and better titled as “Mad Scenes II”

This is a minor comment on an otherwise excellent vehicle for Gruberová, who approaching sixty years of age, is still riding high on the wave of success.